#### 20.3.4 Establishing a JavaHelp environment

To use JavaHelp, you must have both JavaHelp and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on your system, and you must set some environment variables. If you plan to create .jar files, you will also need jar.exe from the Java Software Development Kit (JDK).

JavaHelp 2.0 requires Java Standard Edition (Java SE). Both Java SE and JavaHelp are available for download; see §20.2 Obtaining tools for a Java-based Help system.

Environment variables

You must create Windows environment variables JAVA_HOME and JHHOME, if they are not already defined on your system; for example, on Windows 2000 or Windows XP:

Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables

These environment variables are defined as follows:

    JAVA_HOME   path\to\JavaSE\executables
    JHHOME      path\to\JavaHelp\executables

For example:

    JAVA_HOME=C:\Java\j2re1.4.2_03\bin
    JHHOME=C:\JH\jh20\javahelp\bin

JavaHelp viewer

To check the results after DITA2Go generates JavaHelp files, you can use the JavaHelp viewer included in the JavaHelp installation: hsviewer.jar, located in the demos\bin directory. The JavaHelp System User’s Guide shows how to set up a shortcut to the viewer.

Previous Topic: 20.3.3 Specifying output options for JavaHelp

Next Topic: 20.3.5 Establishing an Oracle Help environment

Parent Topic: 20.3 Setting up a JavaHelp or Oracle Help project

Sibling Topics:

20.3.1 Creating a JavaHelp or Oracle Help for Java project

20.3.2 Deciding where to locate configuration settings

20.3.3 Specifying output options for JavaHelp

20.3.5 Establishing an Oracle Help environment

20.3.6 Creating a directory structure for JavaHelp / Oracle Help

20.3.7 Configuring the helpset file

20.3.8 Coping with JavaHelp / Oracle Help viewer limitations

20.3.9 Compiling JavaHelp with Helen